Donald Ray Pollock

Last updated
Donald Ray Pollock
Donald Ray Pollock (FOLIO - Festival Literario Internacional de Obidos 2019).png
Donald Ray Pollock in FOLIO - Óbidos International Literary Festival, 2019
Born (1954-12-23) December 23, 1954 (age 69)
Ross County, Ohio, U.S.
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Ohio University - Chillicothe
Genre Gothic, crime
ChildrenAmber Pollock (Daughter)

Donald Ray Pollock (born December 23, 1954) [1] [2] is an American writer. He first published his collection of short stories, Knockemstiff, in 2008, based on his experiences growing up in Knockemstiff, Ohio. His debut novel, The Devil All the Time , was published in 2011 to critical acclaim. Pollock served as the narrator of the film adaptation in 2020.

Contents

Biography

Born in 1954 and raised in Knockemstiff, Ohio, Pollock has lived his entire adult life in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he worked at the Mead Paper Mill as a laborer and truck driver until age 50. He is a graduate of Ohio University - Chillicothe. [3] While there, Pollock published his debut short story collection, Knockemstiff, [4] and the New York Times regularly posted his election dispatches from southern Ohio throughout the 2008 campaign. The Devil All the Time, his first novel, was published in 2011. His work has appeared in various literary journals, including Epoch, Sou'wester, Granta, Third Coast, River Styx, The Journal, Boulevard, Tin House, and PEN America. His latest book, a novel called The Heavenly Table, was published by Doubleday on July 12, 2016. It was awarded first place in the International category of the Deutscher Krimi Preis in January, 2017.

Reception

Pollock's fiction has been referred to as "Hillbilly Gothic" and "Southern Ohio Gothic," and has received positive reviews from critics. Knockemstiff was awarded the PEN/Robert Bingham Prize, and has been published in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and England. Discussing The Devil All The Time, Vick Mickunas wrote in The Washington Independent Review of Books that "... there’s an otherness to Pollock’s characters that this reviewer finds strangely compelling. We might not be able to relate to the violence, but we comprehend the humanity — the flaws, the deceits, the crushed dreams, the hope that rises like a delicate flower from ashes." [5] On the other hand, Josh Ritter, an Americana folk singer who reviewed the novel for the New York Times Book Review, was somewhat put off by the violence, but did speak highly of the prose. As of 2015, the book has been translated into twenty-one languages. [6]

Awards and honors

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Vachss</span> American writer and lawyer (1942–2021)

Andrew Henry Vachss was an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youths.

Martin Grzimek is a German author. He was born in Trutzhain. Having spent a number of years living and working in South America and the United States, he now resides in a village near Heidelberg. His work that raised the most interest is Shadowlife, a near-future mystery in which the nature of book itself is questioned. Grzimek is a member of International PEN has won a number of literary prizes.

<i>Gridiron</i> (novel) 1995 novel by Philip Kerr

Gridiron is a science fiction novel written by British author Philip Kerr. It is a story about a highly technical building, which becomes self-aware and tries to kill everyone inside, confusing real life with a video game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denise Mina</span> Scottish crime writer and playwright

Denise Mina is a Scottish crime writer and playwright. She has written the Garnethill trilogy and another three novels featuring the character Patricia "Paddy" Meehan, a Glasgow journalist. Described as an author of Tartan Noir, she has also written for comic books, including 13 issues of Hellblazer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Schätzing</span> German writer

Frank Schätzing is a German writer, mostly known for his best-selling science fiction novel The Swarm (2004).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Lerner</span> American writer

Benjamin S. Lerner is an American poet, novelist, essayist, critic and teacher. The recipient of fellowships from the Fulbright, Guggenheim, and MacArthur Foundations. Lerner has been a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, among many other honors. Lerner teaches at Brooklyn College, where he was named a Distinguished Professor of English in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knockemstiff, Ohio</span> Unincorporated area

Knockemstiff, also known as Glenn Shade or Shady Glenn, is an unincorporated area located in northeastern Huntington Township, Ross County, Ohio, United States, to the southwest of Chillicothe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Maria Schenkel</span> German writer (born 1962)

Andrea Maria Schenkel is a German writer. She received the Corine Literature Prize (2007).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio University – Chillicothe</span> Ohio University Regional Campus

Ohio University Chillicothe is a regional campus of Ohio University in Chillicothe, Ohio. Founded in 1946, OHIO Chillicothe campus is the first of Ohio University's regional campuses and the first regional campus in the state. It is located 45 miles (72 km) south of the state capital of Columbus. As of 2019, it has an enrollment of approximately 1,500 students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Thiemeyer</span>

Thomas Thiemeyer is a German illustrator and author of fantasy novels. Since 2018, he also has published crime stories set in Corsica under the pen name Vitu Falconi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurd Laßwitz Award</span> German literary award

The Kurd Laßwitz Award is a science fiction award from Germany. The award is named after the science fiction author Kurd Laßwitz. Eligible for nomination in all categories except for the Foreign Work category are only works published in German originally.

Garry Disher is an Australian author of crime fiction and children's literature. He is a three-time winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christoph Hein</span> German author and translator (born 1944)

Christoph Hein is a German author and translator. He grew up in the village Bad Düben near Leipzig. Being a clergyman's son and thus not allowed to attend the Erweiterte Oberschule in the GDR, he received secondary education at a gymnasium in the western part of Berlin. After his Abitur he jobbed inter alia as assembler, bookseller and assistant director. From 1967 to 1971 Hein studied philosophy in Leipzig and Berlin. Upon graduation, he became a dramatic adviser at the Volksbühne in Berlin, where he worked as a resident writer from 1974. Since 1979 Hein has worked as a freelance writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Arnald</span> Swedish novelist and literary critic

Jan Arnald is a Swedish novelist and literary critic, whose pen name is Arne Dahl. He has become famous with crime fiction, and he is also a regular writer in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matti Rönkä</span>

Matti Rönkä is a Finnish TV journalist and novelist. He received the Glass Key award in 2007 for the crime novel Ystävät kaukana and the Deutscher Krimi Preis third prize in 2008 for the German translation of his novel Tappajan näköinen mies (2002). He has been the anchor of the daily news program 20:30 National Report since 2003 on Yle, thus inheriting the nickname "Suomen ääni" from the program's old host Arvi Lind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deon Meyer</span> South African crime/thriller novelist

Deon Godfrey Meyer is a South African thriller novelist, writing primarily in Afrikaans. His works have been translated into 28 languages. He has also written numerous scripts for television and film.

<i>The Devil All the Time</i> (film) 2020 American film by Antonio Campos

The Devil All the Time is a 2020 American Southern Gothic psychological crime thriller film directed by Antonio Campos, from a screenplay co-written with his brother Paulo, based on the novel of the same name by Donald Ray Pollock. The film follows several characters whose stories weave together in two Southern Ohio towns during the period from the end of World War II to the 1960s. It features an ensemble cast that includes Tom Holland, Bill Skarsgård, Sebastian Stan, Robert Pattinson, Riley Keough, Haley Bennett, Eliza Scanlen, Mia Wasikowska, and Jason Clarke.

<i>The Devil All the Time</i> Novel by Donald Ray Pollock

The Devil All the Time is the debut novel by American writer Donald Ray Pollock, published in 2011 by Doubleday. Its plot follows desperate characters in post-World War II Southern Ohio and West Virginia, including a disturbed war veteran, a husband and wife who are serial killers, and an abusive preacher. A film adaptation of the same name directed by Antonio Campos and narrated by Pollock, starred Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan, Robert Pattinson and Bill Skarsgård, and was produced by Jake Gyllenhaal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoë Beck</span> German author, translator and publisher

Zoë Beck is a German writer, publisher, translator, dialogue book author and dubbing director. She has won multiple awards for her books and translations.

Pieke Biermann is a German crime writer, literary translator and journalist. She is the winner of the 2020 Leipzig Book Fair Translator's Prize. In the 1970s and '80s, she was an activist in the Berlin women's movement.

References

  1. United States Public Records, 1970-2009, (May 23, 2014), Donald Pollock, Residence, Chillicothe, Ohio, United States.
  2. "Donald Ray Pollock". Notable Names Database . Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  3. Peck, Claude. (July 22, 2011). "Donald Ray Pollock: Grim stories, beautifully told", Star Tribune . Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  4. Sicha, Choire (6 April 2008). "Donald Ray Pollock's underdog story". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
  5. Mickunas, Vick. "The Devil All the Time review". Book review. The Washington Independent Review of Books. Retrieved Aug 3, 2011.
  6. Ritter, Josh. (August 12, 2011). "A Good Man Is Impossible to Find", The New York Times . Retrieved October 13, 2013.